The present invention relates to data processing by digital computer, and more particularly to remote personnel tracking.
Significant resources and costs are invested by many businesses to keep track of the whereabouts and/or arrival and departure times of their field-based employees, e.g. nurses, field technicians, delivery and repair personnel or the like, at various work sites such as the homes of patients or the like. One computer-based system for reporting the arrival and departure times of employees requires manual intervention and is inherently prone to being abused. These systems do not provide reliable and instantaneously available reports on the work schedules of field employees, such as would enable businesses to complete the preparation of service bills and invoices much sooner.
Another computer-based system accepts telephone calls for inclusion in a report from telephone locations which are included in a valid Automatic Number Identification (ANI) database. ANI is a service that provides the receiver of a telephone call with the number of the calling phone. The method of providing this information is determined by the service provider (such as AT&T, MCI, Sprint, and so forth). The service is often provided by sending the digital tone multi frequency (DTMF) tones along with the call.